# Trump doubling down on his assault on the 1st Amendment **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [September 19, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187 "2025-09-19T13:56:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/1 "2025-09-19T13:56:55Z")
I was going to add this on to the Jimmy Kimmel thread, but I really think it deserves its own thread. Very simply, Trump is now saying the FCC should pull the license of any station that talks negatively about him. There is no fig leaf of calling it “hate speech” or “speech likely to incite imminent lawless action” or “political speech from a media outlet given a federal license”. And he didn’t even say “The President”. No, it is specifically talking bad about him. But the clincher is he finished his statement about media outlets talking bad about him with a “They can’t do that.” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/2 "2025-09-19T14:05:56Z")
Rather than ask for a cite, I’ll provide one: > **[Trump suggests FCC could revoke licenses of TV broadcasters that give him too...](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-fcc-revoke-tv-broadcast-licenses-over-bad-publicity-rcna232339)** > > Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr told Fox News on Thursday afternoon that ABC's decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel's show indefinitely may not be "the last shoe to drop." US Democracy is doomed. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/3 "2025-09-19T14:13:06Z")
It’s like this administration read “The 14 Characteristics of Fascism”, by Lawrence Britt and said, “hey that’s an excellent template we could use!” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/4 "2025-09-19T14:18:45Z")
But–TV Networks **are not under** FCC License. Only Local Broadcast stations. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/5 "2025-09-19T14:19:11Z")
Federal employees already have their personal social media accounts being monitored for ANY negative comments about Trump, subject to discipline including termination. I am personally aware this is already occurring with several agencies. There is information filtering down that Trump is considering any public demonstrations by federal employees (think No Kings) will result in discipline as well, including termination. It is much worse than people can fathom and about to get worse. Much, much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/6 "2025-09-19T16:34:31Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Rather than ask for a cite I didn’t provide one since I didn’t see it in an article but rather heard the soundbite. Talking about himself in the third person and that ending of “They can’t do that.” was chillng. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/7 "2025-09-19T16:46:15Z")
Hasn’t technology outpaced the government regulations? it is my understanding that the FCC has to issue broadcast licenses because there is only a finite amount of space available on the radio spectrum to broadcast a television signal. If the broadcasts are unregulated, they’d overlap and you’d just get noise. But now you can broadcast a show via the internet, which no longer runs the risk of overlapping signals. Television is antiquated technology. Just broadcast online. Unless the government shuts down the internet, isn’t that a workaround? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/8 "2025-09-19T16:54:27Z")
The Internet goes through regulated corporations. The big Internet companies have business with the government, that can be leveraged like the merger approvals have been. I don’t mean to be a downer, but I doubt Google will show much more backbone than Disney. We still should protest, but “new tech” is not a complete solution. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/9 "2025-09-19T16:58:29Z")
And, in January of this year, the net neutrality rules were struck down. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/10 "2025-09-19T17:17:14Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > But–TV Networks **are not under** FCC License. > > Only Local Broadcast stations. Each network owns a number of wildly profitable local stations in the largest cities in the country. They are limited by law in that number, but other corporations are not. The two largest owners are Nexstar and Sinclair, both extremely conservative organizations. Nexstar owns Newsnation. Sinclair replaced Jimmy Kimmel with a mandatory hour-long tribute to Charlie Kirk. The FCC can’t shut down a network. So what. It can gut the body of a network by going after the organs. That’s not chump change. The networks took in $40 billion in advertising revenue last year. And there’s that minor ancillary issue of the end of free speech. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/12 "2025-09-19T22:47:19Z")
That’s an interesting take, despite it totally ignoring history, precedent, consistency, fact, law, and the Constitution. ETA: see also… > [@ABC pulls Jimmy Kimmel show indefinitely because of comments about GOP response to Charlie Kirk death](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmel-show-indefinitely-because-of-comments-about-gop-response-to-charlie-kirk-death/1023138/127): > > Just another reminder … By definition, there’s bias in the media. Even such fundamental issues as what stories you do and do not cover and how you cover them constitute ‘bias.’ But that’s how things were for much of the last generation or four. What the Dominion lawsuit revealed about Fox News is what many of us long suspected: it’s not limited to bias and lies of omission (what they don’t tell their viewers). Their willingness to outright lie … about The Most Consequential Issues In Recent… ---
**Author:** ![deltogre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deltogre/32/5041_2.png) [@deltogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltogre)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/13 "2025-09-19T23:06:41Z")
“Hateful?” Where? When using the fascists’ own words against them, I suppose it IS hateful,since it was hateful when they said it. OR, nothing he said was hateful. Nor obstructionist. ALSO, ALSO OR, you are trolling. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/14 "2025-09-19T23:10:31Z")
_Trumpbon?_ Sounds like a nasty fuzzy candy in grammas purse. Orange of course. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/15 "2025-09-19T23:16:42Z")
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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/16 "2025-09-20T05:59:50Z")
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**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/17 "2025-09-20T14:41:40Z")
Or a feminine hygiene product. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/18 "2025-09-20T15:05:22Z")
Or an anti-flatulence sucky sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-doubling-down-on-his-assault-on-the-1st-amendment/1023187/19 "2025-09-20T16:46:27Z")
He’s going all in: - [Defense Secretary Hegseth requires new ‘pledge’ for reporters at the Pentagon](https://www.npr.org/2025/09/20/g-s1-89713/pentagon-new-strict-guidelines-for-media) > The Pentagon will drastically change its rules for journalists who cover the Department of Defense, two U.S. officials who are not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to NPR Friday. The move drew sharp criticism from news organizations, who said it violated the bedrock of a free press. > > Going forward, journalists must sign a pledge not to gather any information, including unclassified reports, that hasn’t been authorized for release. There is no doubt the current government is going full-fascist.